Coadministration of oncolytic viruses with other chemotherapeutic agents is disclosed in WO 00/62735 (pages 35-36). See Kirn D (Cancer Gene Ther 2002; 9:959-960; Virotherapy for cancer: current status, hurdles and future directions) and Bell J C et al. (Cur Gene Ther 2002, 2:243-254; Oncolytic viruses: programmable tumour hunters) for recent reviews on anti-cancer virus therapy Improvements in efficacy using such virus therapies are important to the field and getting approval and widespread use of the approach. Specifically, a drug which shows supra-additive efficacy with a virus would be most advantageous.
The use of camptothecins as anticancer agents is reviewed in Garcia-Carbonero, et al., Clin. Cancer Res. (March 2002) 8: 641-661; and in Pizzolato J F and Saltz L B, The camptothecins. Lancet 2003 361:2235-42. Camptothecins have antitumor activity based on their binding to and inhibition of topoisomerase I, a nuclear enzyme which reduces torsional stress during DNA replication and which has an important role in DNA replication. Topotecan and irinotecan are the two camptothecins have been approved for clinical use by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Other camptothecins are in development as cancer therapeutics (Ulukan and Swaan, (Campothecins: a review of their chemotherapeutic potential. Drugs, 2002, 62:2039-57); and Garcia-Carbonero and Supko, 2002).
The treatment of cancers using certain mutant herpes viruses in combination with any of numerous anticancer agents, including irinotecan and topotecan, is disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2002/0071832 (Fong, et al.), paragraphs 7 and 40. Methods of treating neoplasias using target cell-specific adenoviral vectors in combination with antineoplastic agents, including irinotecan or topotecan, are disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2003/0068307 (Yu, et al.) page 13. See also Nemunaitis, et al., Cancer Gene Ther. (2003) 10(5): 341-352; and Meck, et al., Cancer Res. (2001) 61(13): 5083-5089. Combined use of irinotecan and cetuximab was approved in February 2004 by the U.S. FDA to treat colorectal cancer.